The Berserk Official Guidebook is not a Young Animal pack-in, which is what I assumed. It's a separate book, priced at 824 yen. It's available for pre order on CD Japan, available in limited quantities (24 at this time): http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-1985829

The Berserk Official Guidebook is not a Young Animal pack-in, which is what I assumed. It's a separate book, priced at 824 yen. It's available for pre order on CD Japan, available in limited quantities (24 at this time): http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-1985829

The Berserk Official Guidebook is not a Young Animal pack-in, which is what I assumed. It's a separate book, priced at 824 yen. It's available for pre order on CD Japan, available in limited quantities (24 at this time): http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-1985829

The Berserk Official Guidebook is not a Young Animal pack-in, which is what I assumed. It's a separate book, priced at 824 yen. It's available for pre order on CD Japan, available in limited quantities (24 at this time): http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-1985829

A shame there isn't a Digital Edition, since I can't buy the fisical one [the customs in Italy is Hell]

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May those who accept their fate be granted happiness. May those who defy their fate be granted glory.

We don't know the contents of this guidebook yet. It may or may not be similar to the 2009 Berserk Character & World Guide, a small book with colored pages which had a character guide and a bit about previous events in the series. It was mostly intended for newer readers.

Personally, I'm hoping for something more. But we just don't know yet.

Personally, I'm hoping for something more. But we just don't know yet.

It'll be more expansive than the 2009 booklet (which was bundled with YA for free), but what it will cover and how interesting that'll be for us remains unknown. Personally what I'm most hoping for is name spellings for all characters in the Latin alphabet. New illustrations would be cool as well, but I daren't hope too much in that regard. The cover was already a nice surprise. Lastly, there might be an interview with Miura... we'll see.

I don't think these pictures show it to be an actual place. The girls are just laying down on some pads while the ritual takes place, but it's Danan who makes it all happen. Maybe that specific place in the tree is a key component to the ritual, but if so it hasn't been revealed yet.

I am curious to know why Farnese and Schierke are being involved, does this mean The Sovereign of the Flower Storm would not be able to do the corridor of dreams with out the help of a witch, or is their inclusion some how unique for Casca's special circumstances? I am super excited to find out the reasons behind this development.

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Guts felt like the natural choice given their history together, but in a way it's more interesting to have other people do it. They will be exposed to Casca's inner mind, see new things about her and Guts' past (which may eventually help Farnese to move on), and it could lay the foundation for them forging a stronger bond afterwards...

I wonder if while in Casca's mind they will bear witness to Casca's original devotion and feelings for Griffith and how they will react to this. Griffith used to be a big part of Casca's life and I'm sure that it will be touched on inside her head. Will this cause an averse reaction/tension or will it be the beginning of deeper understanding. Maybe Miura has a specific plot thread in mind for having Farnese and Schierke being the ones to go fetch Casca. Casca has never had close relationship with other females, I would love if Miura addressed this. I also wonder if they will witness her rape during the eclipse and come to an understanding of what drove Casca insane and what a terrible pain it was for her to be violated in front of the man she loved by a person she felt basically "made" her. Maybe that is why Farnese will be involved because she could show her that there is life after having what you believe in shattered. I also wonder if this will be where Farnese will get a intimate firsthand understanding of Casca's love for Guts, and that she does cherish him deeply. I strongly believe that if Farnese believes that Guts's devotion to Casca is returned that she will make peace with her own feelings on the matter, which I feel is partly due to Farnese believing that Casca is a lost cause and has no feelings toward Guts...in that vein, I wonder if Guts assaulting Casca will be shown so that Farnese will understand why Casca has been cold toward him.

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Another way to look at it is that Guts might be too close to Casca's trauma for him to be involved. He already has trouble with his own feelings. Having more neutral third parties take care of it could be for the best in that regard. Not to mention that given the nature of Casca's trauma (and her current adverse reaction to men in general), sending females inside her mind seems like the more sensitive approach. Lastly, from a storytelling perspective, Guts not getting to see Casca's inner mind first hand is probably more compelling for future developments.

What will they find there? How will they interpret it? How will they get her to "come back"? How will she feel towards Guts afterwards? It's all going to be huge.

The thing about this that I'm a little disappointed about Guts not being involved is that I envisioned Guts and Casca coming together in a beautiful celebration of their love and share the intimacy of her healing together...but who knows maybe her healing will be multi-stepped and Guts will play a different role in her restoration when she gains her faculties and she and him can actually talk to each other. Either way I am so excited that this is finally going down. And the group has been on the island for what, like a day so far?

Wow this guidebook is looking like the stuff of dreams! Such a deep look into Miura's process and ideation as well as an actual print compilation for all those miscellaneous paintings that have just been floating around the net until now. I wonder if we'll get an english release down the line, though i'm not sure i'll be able to hold off buying until then.

From what little we have, it's giving me vibes of an abandoned battlefield. Way eerier and quieter than what I was expecting. It's nothing like Guts' explosive eclipse flashbacks, but it captures another perspective of the eclipse that better suits Casca really well.

Wow this guidebook is looking like the stuff of dreams! Such a deep look into Miura's process and ideation as well as an actual print compilation for all those miscellaneous paintings that have just been floating around the net until now.

Those paintings have been printed before. They're only on the internet because they were scanned. And yeah, it's nice to get a more up to date look at how Miura works (last one, that people still quote, was 20 years ago).

I wonder if we'll get an english release down the line, though i'm not sure i'll be able to hold off buying until then.

I'm not very confident that there will be an English release (it'd be great if there was, though). I advise anyone interested in this guide to buy it while they can. We don't know yet whether it will be reprinted after the first run.

Way eerier and quieter than what I was expecting. It's nothing like Guts' explosive eclipse flashbacks, but it captures another perspective of the eclipse that better suits Casca really well.

What makes you think this depicts the Eclipse itself? It's a "dream" Casca is having. It could be anything. The Eclipse will play a central role for sure, but this isn't a flashback. It's even possible it's a place she created to take refuge from what she endured during the Eclipse.

The bulk of this is a character guide, grouped into four sections by character associations. Judging by Schierke's pages, each character entry will feature some similar elements, including height, weight, age (I think), and will also detail any major events about the character. Of course, it's less specific when it comes to the members of the God Hand, and for characters featured in Vol 39, it's even more vague, just giving their katakana names.

One great thing about this section of the guide is that we'll get some specific Romanized names, which you can see in the background of each katakana spelling. That means we'll soon know official (hopefully!) spellings for some of the more strange names, including Locus, Grunbeld, Corcas, Judeau, etc.

There's also a new interview from Miura that's 14 pages (quite long), and of course, fresh pictures of his studio along with some glances of things to come in the form of sketches.